Better pay, better conditions. This has long been the mantra of much of the Trade Union movement and continues to be as we campaign for a Real Living Wage to replace the National Minimum Wage. The Real Living Wage of £10 per hour as advocated by the Trade Union movement is not some arbitrary and convenient figure like the tax paid by so many multi-national corporations. Instead it is an amount carefully calculated to be the wage in which you can start to live your life.

On International Women’s Day it is easy to bemoan the fact that EVERY day should be International Women’s Day. But looking at my Twitter and Facebook feed today reminds me how incredibly powerful women’s voices are when gathered collectively, speaking our truths. It makes me feel proud that sisters are making their voices heard …and speaking up for other women who are less able to do so.

The job of the union movement is to stand up for all working people, but that task is only being served if the rights of women at work are at the forefront of everything we do.

That’s certainly the case at my union, UNISON, where over three-quarters of our members are women working in the public sector. Every day I see the range of specific challenges that women see in the workplace.

Proud of our record standing up for Welsh workers, ambitious for our future

I am proud to standing for the Welsh Assembly in Delyn and it would be an absolute privilege to serve the North East Wales community that shaped me. As an active trade unionist, I am particularly proud to be a Welsh Labour candidate able to stand on the record of a government that has worked in partnership with trade unions to make a difference for working people and for wider Wales.

We all too often hear the popular refrain that politicians and governments are all the same. But if we look from the rhetoric to the reality of the political decisions taken in Wales under a Labour Government it is clear that this is simply not the case.

Whilst the Conservative government axed the Future Jobs Fund, scrapped EMA and hiked up tuition fees, a Welsh Labour Government protected Welsh students from higher fees (they pay around £17,000 less over the course of their degree), retained EMA and introduced the highly successful Jobs Growth Wales that has created 15,000 opportunities for young people.